Refrigerating system, including defroster drainage receptacle and support therefor



Jan. 26, 1954 F. B. ANDERSON 2,667,042

REFRIGERATING SYSTEM, INCLUDING DEFROSTER DRAINAGE RECEPTACLE ANDSUPPORT THEREFOR Filed April 7, 1952 Patented Jan. 26, 1954REFRIGERATING SYSTEM, INCLUDING DE- FROSTER DRAINAGE RECEPTAOLE ANDSUPPORT THEREFOR Florence B. Anderson, Winnetka, Motor ProductsCorporation, corporation of New York 111., assignor to Detroit, Mich., a

Application April 7, 1952, Serial No. 280,871

7 Claims.

This invention relates generally to refrigerating systems and refersmore particularly to improvements in means for vaporizing moisture inrefrigerators.

It is an object of this invention to provide a moisture collecting panor receptacle supported in a readily accessible position by a section oftubing through which refrigerant passes at a temperature sufiicientlyhigh to vaporize moisture collected by the pan.

It is another object of this invention to provide the section of thetubing connecting the exhaust side of a refrigerant compressor to theentrant end of a refrigerant condenser with a loop having opposed legportions disposed within the moisture collecting pan and respectivelyextending along opposite side walls of the pan to transfer heat from therefrigerant flowing through said tubing to the moisture contained in thepan.

It is still another object of this invention to removably support thepan on the opposed leg portions of the loop section in a manner suchthat removal of the pan from said section may be effected by merelysliding the pan lengthwise relative to the leg portions of the loopsection.

It is a further object of this invention to support the moisturecollecting pan in a position wherein it may be readily removed whendesired and wherein the vapor resulting from evaporation of the moisturepasses freely into the room or space in which the refrigerating systemis used.

The foregoing as well as other objects will be made more apparent asthis description proceeds, especially when considered in connection withthe accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic elevational view partly in sectiono'f arefrigerator cabinet and showing a refrigerating system embodying thefeatures of this invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective View of a part of the refrigerating system:shown in Figure l and illustrating the drainage receptacle and supporttherefor; and

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

'Ihe refrigerating system forming the subject matter of this inventionisshown for the purpose of illustration as installed within a domesticrefrigerator, although it will be understood as this descriptionproceeds that the invention may be advantageously used in connectionwith refrigerating systems in general having a moisture disposal.problerri. With this in view reference is made more in detail to Figure1', wherein it will be noted that the numeral to designates aconventional domestic refrigerator comprising the usual cabinet I Ihaving a food storage compartment l2 and a machinery compartment ispositioned below the bottom wall of the compartment l2. In accordancewith conventional practice the food storage compartment l2 has an accessopening through the front of the cabinet closed by a door It, and thefront of the machinery compartment I3 is closed by a trim panel [5removably attached to the cabinet in any suitable manner.

The interior of the food storage compartment I2 is cooled by arefrigerating apparatus comprising a cooling element or evaporator It, amotoroompressor unit I! and a condenser H3. The evaporator It may be ofany suitable construction, and is diagrammatically shown herein assupported within the food storage compartment l2 adjacent the top wallof the cabinet. Also the evaporator I6 is shown in Figure l of thedrawing as comprising a casing l9 having top, bottom and rear walls 26,2| and 22. The front of the casing I9 is open and is normally closed bya suitable door not shown herein. The interior of the evaporator casingl9 as well as the interior of the food storage compartment 12 is cooledby circulating the selected refrigerant through tubing 23 arranged incoils and supported in heat exchange relation to the walls of the casing[9.

Provision is made for collecting moisture draining from the walls of theevaporator casing i 9 during periods of defrost; and for accomplishingthis result, two receptacles 24 and 25 are provided. The receptacle 24is suitably supported within the evaporator casing l9 directly below thetop wall 29, and the receptacle 25 is supported within the food storagecompartment I2 directly below the bottom wall 2| of the evaporatorcasing id. The arrangement is such that moisture draining from the topwall 20 collects in the receptacle 24 and moisture draining from boththe bottom wall 21 and rear" wall 22 collects Within the receptacle 25.The two receptacles are connected by a drain conduit 26 suitablysupported in the evaporator casing 19 adjacent the rear wall 22 thereof.In some instances it may be desirable to facilitate defrosting of theevaporator l6 and this may be accomplished by an electrical resistancetype heating element 27 coiled around the evaporator casing l 9' in themanner diagrammatically shown in Figure 1 of the drawing. Also ifdesired sections of the heating element 21 may be extended into therespective receptacles 24 and 25 to assure maintaining the temperatureof the moisture in the receptacles above the freezing point.

The motor-compressor unit I 1 and the condenser iii are supported withinthe machinery compartment 13. Both of these units may be of conventionaldesign and hence need not be described in detail herein. It issufficient to point out that the intake side of the compressor isconnected by a length of tubing 28 to the discharge end of theevaporator tubing 23 and the delivery side of the compressor isconnected by a length of tubing 29 to the receiving end 33 of thecondenser !8. The delivery end 3! of the condenser I8 is connected tothe receiving end of the evaporator coil 23 through the medium of theusual control instrumentalities and the tubing 32.

A moisture collecting container or pan 33 is supported within themachinery compartment (3 at the front side of the condenser ill in aposition to be readily accessible through the open front of themachinery compartment, and communicates with the moisture collectingreceptacle through the medium of a suitable conduit 34. The conduit 36has a flexible section 35 suitably secured to the cabinet with the lowerend opening into the top of the pan 33 and with the upper end connectedto a trap 36. The trap 36 is in turn connected to the receptacle 25adjacent the rear wall of the latter by a pipe 31. Thus it will be notedthat water deposited in both the receptacles 24 and 25 is drainedthrough the conduit 34 to the pan 33. As shown particularly in Figures 2and 3 of the drawings, opposite side walls 38 of the pan 33 are embossedor otherwise formed to provide each wall 38 with a pair of projections39. The pairs of projections 39 extend laterally inwardly from therespective side walls 38 adjacent the bottom of the pan 33, and theprojections of each pair are spaced from each other in the direction oflength of the pan 33.

In accordance with the present invention the pan 33 is removablysupported by the length of tubing 29, and the water or moisturecollected by the pan is heated by the refrigerant passing through thelength of tubing 29. As shown in Figure 2 of the drawing, the length oftubing 29 has a section intermediate the ends which extends forwardly inthe machinery compartment l3 to a position at the front side of thecondenser l8, and is bent to form a loop 40. The loop G3 has opposed legportions 4| disposed in a. common horizontal plane, and has a baseportion 42 which is bent to extend upwardly from the leg portions 4!.Also the extremities of the leg portions M are respectively bentupwardly as at 43 and are connected to the tubing 29. The length of theleg portions M is less than the length of the pan 43, and these legportions are disposed into the pan 33 in order to transfer heat from therefrigerant passing therethrough to the moisture or water collected inthe pan 33.

As shown particularly in Figure 3 of the drawing, each leg portion 4| ofthe loop-section 40 is bowed laterally outwardly at longitudinallyspaced points to form seats 44. The seats 44 are adapted to assumepositions between the projections 39 on the side walls 38 of the pan 33,and the bottom wall of the pan in order to support the latter in theposition shown in Figure l of the drawing. The spacing betweenprojections 39 on the side walls 38 of the pan 33 and the spacingbetween the adjacent seating portions "54 on the legs il is such thatsliding movement of the pan 3 to the broken line position shown inFigure 2 of the drawing releases the projections 39 from the respectiveseats 4 and enables the pan to be dropped to the broken line positionshown in Figure 1. When the pan 33 is in this latter position, it may bereadily withdrawn from the machinery compartment l3 through the accessopening at the front of the machinery compartment by merely removing thetrim panel l5.

It is apparent from the above that the moisture collecting pan 33 is notonly removably supported by the length of tubing connecting thedischarge side of the compressor to the entrant end of the condenser I8,but in addition, the moisture or water collected by the pan 33 is heatedto an elevated temperature by the refrigerant passing through thistubing. Hence the moisture or water contained in the pan 33 isevaporated, and the vapor passes freely through the access opening atthe front of the machinery compartment. If desired the trim panel I5 maybe provided with vent openings 45 in order to facilitate passage of thevapor into the room in which the refrigerator cabinet is installed.

What I claim as my invention is:

i. In a refrigerating system, a condenser unit, a compressor unit, acooling unit, tubing connecting said units and having a section throughwhich refrigerant flows at a temperature sufiiciently high to vaporizewater, a pan positioned to collect moisture dripping from the coolingunit, said section of the tubing extending into the pan in heat exchangerelation to moisture collected by the pan and having portions removablyengageable with adjacent portions of the pan to support the pan in themoisture collecting position aforesaid.

2. In a refrigerating system, a condenser unit, a compressor unit, acooling unit, tubing connecting said units and having a section throughwhich refrigerant flows at a temperature sufficiently high to vaporizewater, a pan positioned to collect moisture dripping from the coolingunit and having upright walls, said section of the tubing comprising alooped portion having opposed legs respectively extending along saidwalls of the pan within the latter in heat exchange relationship to themoisture collected by the pan, and said legs cooperating with theadjacent walls of the pan to removably support said pan in the moisturecollecting position aforesaid.

3. In a refrigerating system, a condenser unit, a compressor unit, acooling unit, tubing connecting said units and having a section throughwhich refrigerant flows at a temperature sufllciently high to vaporizewater, a pan positioned to collect moisture dripping from the coolingunit and having upright walls, said section of the tubing comprising alooped portion having opposed legs respectively extending along saidwalls of the pan within the latter in heat exchange relationship to themoisture collected by the pan,

and means projecting laterally inwardly from the walls aforesaid of thepan and removably engageable with adjacent legs of the looped portion tosupport the pan in the moisture collecting position aforesaid.

4. In a refrigerating system, a condenser unit, a compressor unit, acooling unit, tubing connecting said units and having a section throughwhich refrigerant flows at a temperature sufiiciently high to vaporizewater, a pan positioned to collect moisture dripping from the coolingunit and having upright walls, said section of the tubing comprising alooped portion having" opposed legs respectively extending along saidwalls within the pan and having portions of the legs extended laterallyoutwardly toward the adjacent walls to form seats, and projectionsextending laterally inwardly from said walls and overlying said seats tosupport the pan in the moisture collecting position aforesaid.

5. The structure defined in claim 4 wherein the seats and projectionsare relatively located and dimensioned to release the pan from thelooped portion upon sliding movement of the pan relative to the legs ofsaid looped portion.

6. In a refrigerating system, a condenser unit, a compressor unit, acooling unit, a length of tubing connecting the discharge side of thecompressor to the receiving end of the condenser and having a loopedportion intermediate the ends thereof, a moisture collecting pan havingprojections extending laterally inwardly from opposite side wallsthereof, a receptacle supported below the cooling unit in a position toreceive moisture dripping from the cooling unit and having a fluidconnection with the pan, the opposed legs of the looped portion of saidtubing extending into the pan along the opposite side walls of said panand arranged to provide seats for engaging the projections on theopposite side walls of the pan to support the latter.

7. In a refrigerating system, a condenser unit,

a compressor unit, a cooling unit, tubing connecting said units andhaving a section through which refrigerant flows at a temperaturesulficiently high to vaporize water, a pan positioned to collectmoisture dripping from the cooling unit and having upright walls, saidsection of the tubing comprising a looped portion having opposed legsrespectively extending along said walls within the pan and havinglongitudinally spaced portions of each leg extended laterally outwardlytoward the adjacent walls of the pan to form seats, and projectionsextending laterally inwardly from each of said walls in positions torespectively overlie the seats and releasable from said seats inresponse to sliding movement of the pan relative to the looped portionof the tubing.

FLORENCE B. ANDERSON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

